soil

[knabe]

semi interesting, not like this is a new topic, but

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/348200_dirt22.html

enviro's have mandated ethanol from corn, eliminated drilling domestic sources on land owned by all.  the corn requires more fertilizer, more is being planted on decidely more fragile soil, requires more inputs than crops it replaced, and the runoff, including soil goes into the gulf of mexico, creating a looming environmental disaster.

of course no one will hold them accountable, as the farmers are evil and must have more regulation.

you can look at satellite pics of madagascar and see all the plumes of soil running off into the ocean.  total human disgrace.  now we are accelerating it in our own country, all to please the all knowing environmentalists.  a total disgrace to the years of effort the soil conservation service put in.

 

[red]

as someone that worked for the soil conservation dept, it's a fine line between conservation & real world farming. We are putting in dikes for fetilizer containment. also fenced of our creeks to keep soil erosion & water contaimentation to a minimum. Without incentatives doubt if they'd get done.

Red

 

[knabe]

incentives today, mandates and fines tomorrow.  already happening in santa cruz county out here.  as cities take over the best farmland, ie the entire bay area, we move to more marginal land, so that the libs can say we are gaining farmland.  california has a net loss of legal population, yet has a growth mandate to every city of 5%.  just like the stock market, people are moving with their feet with the looming disaster they refuse to pay for.  it's amazing to me the government will fine legal citizens if they don't fill out the ag survey, but will not pursue social security fraud with the same zeal.  total disgrace.

with incentives to improve efficiency, coupled with a static population, the US could be poised for independence again.  but alas, your tax dollar is too easy to extract.

the RCD i am on is trying to get a program enacted to tax landowners $2 an acre to administer water conservation projects rather than the rest of the populace who uses the fruits of that.  since the farmer can not factor in easily this additional cost, he must absorb it and pay for it with additional efficiencies, or go bankrupt.  the government absolutely hates middle income farmers and people.  they are too small of a voting block anymore, the largest predictable voting block being those that don't pay taxes.  this is upside down.

ditto on the conservation versus real world.

 

[JbarL]

as someone that worked for the soil conservation dept, it's a fine line between conservation & real world farming. We are putting in dikes for fetilizer containment. also fenced of our creeks to keep soil erosion & water contaimentation to a minimum. Without incentatives doubt if they'd get done.

Red

red i tried to send you a pm, and may have sent it to knabe. )) ))....so...if you dont get a mail from me let me know ..sorry if i sent ya some junkmail  knabe ....jbarl

 

[knabe]

i already forwarded it.  i think soil settles out of moving water at a 0.5% slope.  my great grandfather understood this and bought terrible land "downstream" from good land and made a series of very large swale like dams in the early 1900 to catch soil.  he also allowed some plants to not be grazed in these areas to catch the dust.  by the 20's before the dust bowl, he was farming it.  on one section of this land, a neighbor recently changed the course of a stream with the county's permission (essentially against the law), and forced the stream down the road and onto our property.  we are in the process of either suing or working with the neighbor and county to fix this.  water needs to go down, not off.  deep roots promote this, especially when they go dormant (native perrenial grasses)